What you are telling us is:
(i). Luke killed Jodi somewhere along the path and left her behind the wall, near the 'V' gap.
(ii). After the act, Luke used the South Esk to wash blood off his face, hands and shoes (if any).
(iii). Luke then returned into Newbattle and went home on foot.
(iv). While returning home, Luke may still have had blood on his clothes, but nobody noticed.
(v). On returning home, Luke changed out of his contaminated clothes. He may or may not have showered at this point.
(vi). At no point did Luke enter Easthouses.
Have I got you right? I just want to be clear on what you are saying.
If he was washing his face in a river, he wouldn't have been able to see himself. I suppose he could have been carrying a pocket mirror, or even relied on his own reflection in the water. A mirror seems unlikely unless this was planned in very fine detail. There's a risk of making himself visibly dirty, which would raise suspicion if someone were to see him. The close-up eye witness account of Luke waiting at the gate at (I think) the Newbattle end does not, to my mind, tally with the idea of him trekking through woodland then using a river to clean himself up. It is a neat explanation, though.
Do you think it is possible he washed in the brook that runs along and near some of the path, rather than the South Esk? I just wonder about two things: to what extent the South Esk is overlooked and also the need for him quickly to remove signs of blood rather than walk through the woodland first. However, I note that the brook is southerly from the path, so maybe that is your explanation for using the South Esk, in that he wanted to stay behind the wall and under cover of woodland?
Overall, I am still not comfortable with this due to the pathologist's opinion about the quantity of blood that is likely to have been on her attacker. I can't quite square this with the eye witness accounts and the need for Luke to return home unseen, on foot, without assistance from a confederate. Your theory is good but depends on either Luke chancing it or receiving assistance from somebody (which then requires two individuals to chance it).
I will need to mull it over. Perhaps, in the meantime, you could answer my questions above, please?
Ok, firstly the attack did not happen on the path, it happened and was contained to a small area within that woodland strip. Namely NW and W of the V break, within there. The burn you mention (Ochre) runs through that area. Why would LM go up to the V break to enter RDP? and risk having nowhere to keep himself out of sight, should anyone have come along there is nowhere to go. Absolutely no evidence of any killer escaping via that path, east, south or north. Every piece of forensic evidence contained NW and W.
Off the lane in Easthouse's the wall is completely broken away, an area that this couple used to enter that strip of woodland. An area that LM had walked down with others, through the strip of woodland to that V break, over and on to that path. LM denied he had ever been in there before, he denied all knowledge of those breaks in the wall. Initials also found where he had carved their name into a tree. The winging it, and admitting to then only going so far down once confronted with those intitials. So yes, he had been in Easthouse's, walking down through that woodland strip with Jodi into an area off the beaten track -----------
The burn (Ochre,as above), running through the area where the attack happened. No idea to suitablilty of substance for washing, his hair had appeared wet/gelled in the F&W sighting. If someone had walked past LM, directly beside him, then perhaps they would have picked up far more detail, sometimes people simply expect too much, red against khaki? How much, how little? We simply do not know, only LM would have been aware of what was strikingly visible upon those clothes. He did not cross that road hoping to be seen, crossing it without a doubt whilst no cars were in sight, one appeared and he stops in his track. Before he had the chance to make it into further cover. It is a car driving past and it is not a stand alone sighting. Kicking himself? saying 'dam', I should have taken that coat off before crossing that road, who knows?
So your question around time and what had to have happened in that time frame. The clean of anything upon his actual person, the change of clothing. I allowed for LM to go home, we do not know to what level this murder may have been premeditated, only LM will know this. If at all he had to go home at this point. But he has ample means, unlike the RDW it is a denser area next to his housing scheme. An area he would know intimately, that is simply a given. Not just from walking his dog, but a young lad growing up right next to it. He is not going to be keeping to the beaten track, he is attempting to not be seen. And knowledge to whether he had or not been seen. Again this winging it, to see what would transpire. Such as stating he had arrived home at 9pm that evening and stayed home, he was seen arriving home around 10pm. Winging it.
So the burn and the river with many places along it's length in those woods, that LM knew intimately. What kind of example can be given here? How's about he has already taken that coat off upon entering those woods, perhaps directly after being seen by F&W, we do not know. But he had the most natural source ever around him, to get blood off his person, hopefully before he is seen. My goodness, how long to dunk your head completely under water, really give it a good old rubbing/clean/rinse, repeating this process 4/5/6 times in succession? How dirty does one think he is going to be after this? With blood, with anything? This is not a burn, it is a clean flowing source of water. Seen? Risk of being seen? Choice, blood or washing, or washed?
So he gets the whack of this off him, he has no coat on, he makes his way as discretely as is feasible to his home. He is armed with knowledge, he has not passed anyone, no cars passed whilst going into his garden. A neighbour may have seen him, he doesn't know, he simply has to wing it as with the rest.
Choices? he has met with that girl, he has killed her, he can only do as much as is possible in a very short period of time. He has natural source and cover surrounding him. He is intelligent and without a doubt forensically aware. No calling mother to get into any car, he is going to be claiming to be home, why would he have phoned her? Contaminating a car, contaminating his home - When he does not have to.
So assuming he is the killer, and I certainly believe he is, without a doubt factually guilty and proved in law to be so. Has murdered and carried out those horrific post mortem injuries. This is not normal, this is not someone who is going to be panicking, upset, this is cold and to them clear thinking, doing what they had to do in an attempt to cover it up. It was never going to be easy, those wheels in motion unable to be derailed.
It does not sit rational in mind at all, does it? Not simply that this happened, we then have to enter into that alibi, the rational behind a person aiding another? So many things that are abhorant to mind. I have absolutely no idea what tale he told to his mother that day, there is no point in guessing.
You mention about risk, being seen, arriving to the house, bloodied? Small windows of time, fortunate? To the opposite end of the scale. Once that call was logged from 5:32pm, attempting to place LM where he claimed to be, works at around 75mins of not being seen. Not even by his own brother exiting that estate. To a couple of minutes max working his way from a density of that woodland into his house? He puts himself on that road for a very short period of time, and he is seen several times. That is reality here.
Did LM walk up RDP to get to Easthouses? Not seen, or walk up through RDW, we simply do not know. Then we move to LK who cycled up that path, not seen. Risk, choice, luck and on it goes. Ubelievable, impossible? - He was found guilty for a reason, many reasons around that circumstantial evidnence.
